The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar, has called for the reinstatement of the resident doctors who were recently sacked by the government.
Omar said in an electronic mail on Monday that the decision of the government should be reversed in view of the current health challenges facing the country.
He said that the Federal Government given the wrong advise to sack the striking doctors.
The NLC President said that rather than sacking the doctors, the Federal Government should employ more health workers and devote the expected attention to the provision of necessary equipment to the health facilities in the country.
He said that the sacking of the doctors was unnecessary in view of the grave challenge posed by the Ebola virus to Nigerians.
He said that it was even more precarious to sack doctors en mass, in the country where available doctors were grossly inadequate with a ratio of one doctor to 5,000 citizens out of the population 170 million people.
He said, “The recent mass dismissal of resident doctors in federal hospitals across the country by the Federal Government is ill-advised, and therefore should be re-considered and reversed given prevailing health challenges.
“What the country needs urgently is recruitment of more health professionals, well equipped public hospitals, and a well-organized health system capable of responding to the health concerns of our growing population and not sacking of any category of health personnel.
“We believe the Federal Government was misadvised and also misled by this action.
“It is clearly unwarranted to sack doctors just as we are collectively faced with the challenge of the Ebola Virus. It is even more dangerous to sack medical personnel in a country of over 170 million people with a ratio of one doctor to over five thousand patients.”
He urged the government to give special attention to the protection of health workers who are more endangered by the Ebola outbreak by providing them with the requisite work tools and motivation.
The labour leader also advised the government to audit the public health sector with a view to determining the state of equipment, personnel and funding in the sector.
“The Federal Government needs to carry out an urgent audit of our public health sector to determine the state of the sector in terms of equipment, personnel and funding.
“While workers, and indeed all Nigerians, are at great risk and require adequate protection, those in the medical sector should particularly be sufficiently equipped and given incentives to guarantee their safety and boost morale. No country can afford, specifically at these trying times, to neglect its health sector, including the personnel that work there,” he added.
--The Punch
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